The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta has planned to raise its intake for its post-graduate programme course to 400 seats for the 2008-10 batch, regardless of whether the proposed 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Castes is implemented or not.

Shekhar Chaudhuri, director of IIMC, said, "We intend to raise our intake for the two year PGP course to 400 this year and 460 in 2009 keeping in mind the proposed reservation for the OBCs. However, the seat hike will take place even if the Centre does not go ahead with the implementation of the OBC quota. Apart from the PGP course, the institute would also raise its annual intake for the post doctoral course to about 20 and give a major impetus on research."  

He was talking to the media at Intaglio, the international B-school meet hosted by IIMC. The institute has lined up an investment of Rs 50 crore for the next two years for upgradation of its physical infrastructure, which includes building a classroom complex with classrooms that can accommodate over 200 students.

The classroom complex apart, the institute is also planning to set up syndicate rooms for discussions, faculty offices and two new hostel towers. 

By 2009, IIMC will have two new hostel buildings, which will have a combined capacity of over 330 rooms, Chaudhuri claimed. The premier B-school would have an executive guest house on the lines of the existing Tata Hall.

The institute, which has 72 full-time faculty members, plans to induct 15 faculty members next year.

IIMC has also drawn up a plan to revamp its PGP course, which envisages the introduction of a compulsory course in communication and business ethics and also a course on public policy and management. Chaudhuri pointed out that the details of this new PGP curriculum is being worked out.

Chaudhuri opined that to be successful in the hyper competitive world of business today requires moving simultaneously on several fronts, one of which is forging strategic alliances with potential partners across the globe, in pursuit of market leadership.